Makeover: Everyday Makeup (Updated Contouring)

So there I am wearing no make-up with my bestfriend, my Canon 60D.

For this tutorial, I won't be putting any eye shadow at all. I opted to skip this for an easy and quick (ish) everyday look. 

The products

Most of these products are from ELF cosmetics. I recently purchased so much stuff because their US site was on sale!

Steps:

1. Prime  your face
I used ELF's mineral-infused primer. Using primer is really important because it can hide your pores, make the foundation glide smoothly on your skin and make your make-up last longer. You can apply it using your hands.

2. Put on foundation

I used Graftobian's cream foundation. You can actually skip the contouring in your foundation & just do step #5 if you lack the time.

I started my contour & highlight in my foundation using three shades: (pictured L-R) 1) a lighter shade (compared to the color of my face) on the lower part of my forehead, under my eyes, on the bridge of my nose, on the cupid's bow and on the laugh line 2) a darker shade on the outlines of my face, under the cheekbones, on the sides of my nose and under my lower lip (to make the lips look bigger) 3) the right shade (that matches my skin color) to blend the contour & highlight.

I used Real Techniques brushes

After applying the foundation, blend onto skin and make sure there aren't any visible harsh lines.

3. Set your foundation

I used ELF's translucent HD powder. I used a translucent one so that the shading & the highlighting from my foundation would still show. I just started using this powder. Back then, just recently, I was still using colored powder to set my foundation just because it was the only one I had and also because I would also use it to correct the color of my face if I used a much lighter/darker foundation. So now that I have acquired this translucent foundation, I think I'll be sticking to it (but I will also keep my colored pressed powder inside my bag for retouches).

4. Fill in your eyebrows

If you have perfectly groomed eyebrows, there is no need for you to add this to your quick, everyday make-up routine but if your eyebrows need a little help, go ahead. I used ELF's eyebrow kit: shape with the gel first and then set it with the eyebrow powder. Make sure not to go too dark in filling in the start of your eyebrows (near the tear ducts of the eyes) as that may look very harsh & unnatural.

An optional step, you can put eyebrow tint to match the brown eyebrow powder you used to fill in your brows.

5. Contour/Bronze up
Pick a bronzer or matte brown powder (with ashy tones: grayish not orangey) and apply it to parts of your face you want to push back. I used this to outline my face. I also put it under my cheekbones and on the sides of my nose.

Not all faces are of the same shape so my contour will not suit all faces. All you need to know is that you should apply contour on parts of your face you want to push back. If you have a wide forehead, you can apply contour on the temples and/or on the upper part of the forehead. If you have a wide face, you would want to apply contour on the sides of your face. If you have a very long & sharp chin, apply it on your chin. If you don't have pronounced cheekbones, apply it under your cheekbones So basically everything you want to hide and push back, apply contour.

6. Apply blush
I think anyone can never go wrong with a pink blush. Remember to build up. Do not put too much all at once because it is harder to blend. Put blush on your cheekbones just above your contour: from your hairline up to the end of your eyes. Be careful if you add blush way past the end of your eyes because your face might look too droopy.

I used a blush from The Balm.

7. Lips

If you have naturally moist pink lips, well then I am envious of you but if you don't, do not fret because lipsticks exist. For an everyday look, use pink or nude lipsticks. You can also use lip tints for a more natural look. If you are just a naturally adventurous girl, go for a bold statement lip.

I used ELF's matte lip color in Red. It actually turned into pink because I used a white lip primer underneath. It didn't end up red but I loved the pink color it transformed into.

8. Eye lashes

You wouldn't know the difference curling and putting mascara on your eyelashes make until you do so. You might want to skip this part if you do not have time but doing this makes such a huge difference (not too much but you get my point). You won't be doing your eye shadow anyway so another thing to do to make your eyes pop is to define your lashes.

So that's it! Do you think I need to start making videos or is it better to have picture tutorials?